Mr. Bourne hoped to avoid the unpleasantness that arises when commercial considerations become too dominant, as happened, he said, when “Swan Lake” came to New York. “I felt I was pushed into denying its gay content to the media,” he said, with evident embarrassment.

“Kyle and I met in 2000 in an elevator on the way up to a birthday party at a loft space in Union Square,” Mr. Kirtzman recalled. “One of the first things I asked him is whether he was a dancer. He had incredible posture and a disciplined aura.”
Mr. Froman recoiled. “I just thought to myself, what an awful pickup line,” he said. “I was about to ignore him, but he kept on talking to me.” Mr. Froman acknowledged that he was a dancer. “Then he told me he was on television.”